Honors General Science Current Events

      In the new study of the spread of domesticated cats, DNA analysis suggests that cats lived along with humans for thousands of years without being domesticated. During that timespan, their genes have changed from wildcats into the house cats we know today.     Researchers took samples of more than 200 cats from the last 9,000 years, even taking DNA from ancient roman cat remnants, mummified egyptian cats, and modern wildcats. The results showed that the earlier ancestors of domestic cats started in southwest Asia and then spread into Europe as early as 4400 B.C.   These cats likely started getting closer to humans living in farming communities in the Fertile Crescent around 8,000 years ago. They most likely were kept around for rodent control, like many farm cats are today. During that time period it is thought humans and cats got increasingly closer because humans supplied the food source, and cats alleviated th...

I am just doing a trial current event-  Are you supposed to put the link to your article in the summary?  Do you know how to do that?  My current event is an article from the magazine The Week.  It is titled   It's not just the germs — it's also the genes  The article discusses how a person's genes play a part in how viruses react within that body.  It talks about how some people may get a virus more seriously than another & how scientists can look at that information and develop therapies from.  Just so you know The Week pulls articles from other sources-  I did backtrack to check the source they got the original article from & it checks out. 

 The company Pfizer, has developed a potential vaccine for the covid-19 virus. They have announced the tests have revealed it at 90 percent effective and say that there are no signs of safety concerns with it. I believe this is good news as it will help to end the current pandemic if it gets realeased.

 In the article "Building Better Mental Health", it states that face-to-face connection can actually boost your mental health in just minutes. Yes, connecting with people through technology is also good for you, just for the social skill aspect of it, but face-to-face connection is so much better for your body. Not only does this in-person connection help you with interaction skills, and listening skills, but it is can make your mental health so much more stable. Now, many would argue that many people don't get face-to-face connection because they can't even get out of bed because their mental status. But, don't you worry that is not the only thing you can do to boost your mental health, you could also workout, do yoga, eat what is good for you, get enough sleep, etc. All of these things can boost your mental health so much. You may not think it will, but studies show that any of those things can boost your mental health so much. Mental health is very very importa...

 Can dogs see color? Yes....................and no. Dogs are similar to what us humans call colorblindness. They don't see many colors but they can distinguish blues very well. " humans have three types of photoreceptors in their eyes that transmit signals about color to the brain, dogs have two types of photoreceptors.".  this is a quote from my article. it tells us how dogs have different signals than us to determine colors. I honesty don't feel like it maters all to much though. while dogs cant see color they an smell and hear extremely well. this makes up for the lack of color. a dogs smell is almost like how they see. that's how they tell people and things apart. https://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/can-dogs-see-color-and-how-do-we-know/

Scientists have found a type of gas called "phosphine" on the planet Venus. This kind of gas can be produced by microbes and bacteria. A planetary scientist Sanjay Limaye says that, "Fifteen kilometers above the surface of Venus, the conditions are what you would find if you would walk out your door right now." Although there could be life on Venus, it would be extremely dangerous. Phosphine gas is "horrific" because it interferes with oxygen.  Although it is possible that there is life, it is unlikely because of the fact that there is acid rain on Venus. But, scientists say that if there is still visible phosphoric acid, there has to be a source, because the acid takes a good amount of energy to create, and can easily be destroyed by sunlight. So, " if the gas was produced a long time ago, it shouldn’t still be detectable."  If there is bacteria that's alive up there, lets hope they don't get super smart and take over the world. Link to ...

 Over time as the air gets dirtier more and more people inhale it which increases their risk of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's, and other forms of dementia. 63 million Americans can't prove the cause and effect but they do show stroings associations with air pollution and brain disorders. Our current air pollution levels are PM2.5 when exposed to this long term it increases the deterioration of the human Heart. For each 5 microgram  per cubic meter increase in annual PM2.5. There was a 13% higher chance of being hospitalized for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. The article says, "Women, white people, and urban dwellers were particularly susceptible." Antonella Zanobetti the co-researcher says that there needs to be stricter standards to lower the levels of air pollution. The rise in neurological disorders as the American population grows can not only be described by aging. If the air pollution is lowered the amount of neurological disorders would be lowered ...

    As we very well know, bats use echolocation to get around, but they are not blind. But, there lies the question, what do they really 'see' at night? Echolocation uses sound in order to gather more information you can't see with your eyes. Bats have sight, but if you think about it they're in the dark all the time because their noctournal. So, they see mostly black. I think this is important to know this because there will be a time, a long time in the future, that we will need some sort of echolocation to help us survive. Scientests could use this method in so many ways to help life as we know it. And, it will be important for the future. This is why it is important to our futures.  https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/what-bats-see-when-they-probe-the-world-with-sound  

  With an estimated 300 active volcanoes on Earth, the challenge is how to monitor them all to send out early warnings before they erupt. Measuring volcanic gas emissions is also no easy task. Re searchers have designed specially-adapted drones to help gather data from an active volcano in Papua New Guinea.  The drones could help local communities monitor nearby volcanoes and forecast future eruptions.  This new way of predicting if volcanoes are about to erupt is life-saving and a new step into the future of predicting volcanic eruptions. https://www.sciencealert.com/drones-sent-into-degassing-volcanoes-for-science

     This article is about using exposure therapy to overcome yours fears. By watching scary movies, one can face their fear of death or tragedies. This is a coping strategy for people and it has positive effects on the mind. The article says, "  Notably, a recent study  of more than 300 people shows that horror fans are faring much better psychologically than non-fans during the emotionally draining months of the COVID-19 pandemic." By processing the fear from horror movies, our minds are getting complete exposure to that fear. The more one watches a scary movies or see a fear of theirs, they can slowly start to forget about that fear. Wouldn't watching a scary movie make the fear worse?  It doesn't make it worse because as your brain sees this phobia or fear, it gets used to it over time.  https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/10/how-horror-movies-can-help-overcome-trauma-and-relieve-stress/#close